Climate conversations

The Living Pā

Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, is aiming to create one of the world’s most environmentally sustainable educational buildings. As a purpose-built living lab, the Living Pā will be an incubator for innovation, and a place for multiple communities and disciplines to come together to discuss how we can build a more equitable, fair, and sustainable society.

The redevelopment proposes to meet the internationally recognised Living Building Challenge for sustainable development principles – meaning it must generate all its own energy, use its own water systems, be entirely carbon-neutral and use non-toxic materials. It also must prove, a year after completion, that it’s as sustainable as it claims.

Structural Engineer James McLean from L.T McGuiness is the Project Manager on the Living Pā Construction and Design team. James has a longstanding interest in sustainability and green building so this project is a perfect alignment for his skillset. In this Climate Conversation, James will discuss how the team is bringing this forward thinking design to life, and what’s involved with adhering to the standards set by the Living Building Challenge.

Energy futures – a “net energy” lens

Through a systems perspective combining economics, environment and energy, Transition Engineer Nathan Surendran presents a broad perspective on the polycrisis (a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects – eg Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, cost-of-living and the climate crisis) and explains how energy futures look through a ‘net energy’ lens.

View the slides

Scott Base Development Project

In this Climate Conversation, Karissa Hyde and Clare Paynter, two of the most in-the-know engineers on the Scott Base Redevelopment, will discuss this challenging and exciting Antarctic Project, including the upgrade of the Ross Island Wind Energy System.

Introduction to Environmental Product Declarations, part two

In part 2 of the Climate Conversation discussing Environmental Product Declarations, brought to you by Water New Zealand, experts provide an understanding of the process of producing, procuring and decision-making using EPDs.

The objectives for the webinar are:

• Understand how EPDs can be used in planning infrastructure development and decision making.
• Share examples of EPDs in use and provide insights into the tools available for completing optioneering assessments of infrastructure development.
• Explain how EPDs can be used, accessed, and inform asset planning processes.
• Provide examples of using EPDs to drive innovation in manufacturing processes.

Introduction to Environmental Product Declarations, part one

Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) offer credible, data-based, and verified information that support sustainable product choices. This Climate Conversation will inform product manufacturers, suppliers, and operators of the purpose of EPDs as well as the fundamentals of how they are produced and used. Through case studies you’ll also learn how EPDs are used from both an operator/product and supplier/manufacturer perspective. This Climate Conversation was brought to you by Water New Zealand.

NZGBC Rating Tools – for better and more sustainable buildings

Buildings and their construction account for as much as 20% of New Zealand's emissions. New Zealand Green Building Council, Te Kaunihera Hanganga Tautaiao (NZGBC) is on a mission to change that. In this Climate Conversation Brad Crowley, Senior Manager, Buildings and Communities at NZGBC discusses the benefits of green building certifications including the different rating tools managed by NZGBC. He also talks about the new update to the rating tool, Green Star Buildings and how engineers can make sure this new tool is fit for purpose for New Zealand. View the presentation slides

Embodied carbon and its incorporation into New Zealand’s regulatory systems

Antonia Reid, Policy Director for the Building for Climate Change Programme, and Katie Symons, Principal Advisor, Engineering, from MBIE’s Building System Performance Branch presented on embodied carbon. In this climate conversation they cover technical methodology, what engineers need to know, and what’s next in incorporating this into the regulatory systems.

Key Principles of a Circular Economy

In this climate conversation, Debbie O'Byrne discusses the key principles of a Circular Economy and help engineers understand and leverage the shift in thinking a CE transition creates.

NZ concrete industry's journey towards NET ZERO carbon

Ralf Kessel is the convener of the Concrete NZ Masonry Sector Group and of the Concrete NZ Sustainability Committee which was established in May 2019 and will discuss the industry's journey towards NET ZERO carbon.

Research for reducing environmental impact involving renovations of historic buildings in NZ

Rachel Paschoalin will share her research involving renovations of historic buildings in New Zealand, towards a holistic method for reducing environmental impact.

A hospital pass

Jack Young, a mechanical engineer, discusses how the heavily regulated, change-averse healthcare sector has begun to drive transformational change to tackle the task of energy transition – and what can be learned and applied across other industries.

What te ao Māori can teach us about climate change

In our first Climate Conversation, Akuhata Bailey-Winiata (University of Waikato) speaks specifically about his work on the relevance and application of mātauranga and te ao Māori in climate change.